A Tallahassee woman has been arrested on a charge she stabbed her fiance to death during a fight at their mobile home off Old Bainbridge Road.

Malinda Elizabeth Spargo, 22, was arrested Thursday on a charge of second-degree murder in the death of Joseph Jackson, 27. She is being held without bond at the Leon County jail.

The Sheriff's Office responded Nov. 2 to the couple's home on Matthew Carter Court and found Jackson unresponsive with a small flesh wound on the left side of his chest, according to court records. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Spargo told investigators she stabbed Jackson accidentally during a physical altercation. However, a witness the couple was living with said Spargo went toward Jackson with a knife and stabbed him "because (she) was angry."

According to court documents, Spargo told the Sheriff’s Office she and Jackson dated for about five years and lived in Valdosta, Georgia, before moving in with the witness about a week before the stabbing.

Spargo told deputies that Jackson had fractured her nose and dislocated her jaw in the past. She said she grabbed a knife during the fight because “she wanted to let Jackson know he was not going to hit her again,” court records state. “(She said) she did not intend to stab Jackson and only grabbed the knife because she thought Jackson was going to hurt her.”

The witness, who managed to break up the fight for a time, said that at one point in the fight, Spargo got the knife and walked toward Jackson. He asked if she was going to stab him and used an expletive. The witness pleaded with her to drop the knife, but she continued toward Jackson and stabbed him in the chest.

The witness initially told investigators that the stabbing was accidental and happened as Spargo and Jackson were “playing around.” However, she later said she didn’t want to get Spargo in trouble and also was afraid of her. The witness and the couple met through a Craiglist ad.

Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or follow @JeffBurlew on Twitter.